Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Jan. 25, 1991, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE 2 — THE DECREE — JANUARY 25,1991 The Decree OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH CAROUNA WESLEYAN COLLEGE Co-Editors— Dhana Clie$$on and John Perneil SfafT—* Jamie Stumpy Jobn Fentress, James Oakley, Stewart Cranky Kevin Hambre4t,Trey Dav^ Alien Felton TheDecreeifUKat^d in the Student tJnionijNQrtb Carolina Westeyan College, Wesleyan College Station, Rocky Mount, NC 27S01. Policy i$ deter nrined by the Editorial Board of The Decree, Re-pabUcatioo of any matter herein without the ex press consent the Editorial Board Is strictly fcrbidden. The Decree Is composed and )>riBted by Ripley Newiqtapers: of Sprii^Hope. Opinions pabli^ed donotnecessarilyrcllectthose of North Carolina W^yant CoQege. U.S. war with Iraq is history unfolding In the past week the United States has entered a war with Iraq. The cost of this war is yet to be deter mined, both lives and po litically. While the death toll begins to mount overseas, the repercussions are hitting home. For those who have fam ily members in the Gulf area, this time can seem extremely unnerving, and lonely. If you are one of these people, please get to gether and contact those other individuals who share your burden. The Office of Student Life is in the process of or ganizing a support group to help these students through this crisis. There is also a school-sponsored psychia trist for those people who do not wish to openly ex press their feelings. He can be contacted through Stu dent Life. The school is also spon soring a number of forums with speakers who have particular knowledge con cerning the issues in the Gulf War. One was held last week and another was held Wednesday. All people are encouraged to attend these events. History is taking place on a grand scale around you. Do not continue to stay glued to your Nintendo games. FDOCAMAL ...UND 16 CENTS A SIX-PACK 1!... MW Echoes of another war The wheelchair was empty By DR. STEVE FEREBEE During the summer I was 19, one of my best friends was a Vietnamese man called Kim. I spent my weekends out at a ram bling, Victorian house surrounded by moss-embraced live oaks and a murky-green lake. About eight friends rented it and in that era’s communal spirit we partied and loved and wondered about the universe in a way I’ll never forget Kim lived close by and was at the Mansion most of his waking hours. He went everywhere with Dr. Steve us. When we loaded the van and headed to a rock ccxicert, we put his wheel chair in the back and sang our way to Tallahassee or Miami or wherever the music was. Kim’s thin, aCCefitSj'vbide grew in confidence as the summer went along. Until this time, I had never known a physically impaired person. Kim had been educated in the United States and while working on a graduate degree he decided to return to Vietnam and fight with American soldiers for the liberation of his country. Soon after arriving, he stepped on a mine and lost his legs. Kim intensely enjoyed his boisterous American Mends as we ripped around the lake in a motOT boat, moved huge speakers out into the yard so we could dance under the stars, and or- chestratedhectic parties with food and drink abundant. (Continued on Page 5) Morrison column spurs disagreemenll Dear Editor Part of the thesis of Dr. Morrison’s provocative article “Good English is a ‘Power Tool’” (Dec. 7) — that those in power determine what constitutes the “standard” language form — is undeniable. Had the French won the French and Indian War, we’d be speaking a variation of French; had African slaves staged a suc cessful revolution, we’d be speaking Gullah or some variation of Black English. Since ruling classes by definition doininate society, including its schools, their language forms the standard. But when Morrison speculates about the consequences of this Letters to the Editor situation, she runs into trouble on at least two counts. First, she thinks that making people speak or write “consistently,” “clearly,” and “coherenfly” is a capitalist plot to keep “minoritarian” peoples in their place. This is, of course, the goal of rulers every where, but one must argue that the use of the clear, coherent lan guage that meets what Morrison calls “bankers’ criteria” is cer tainly not the way they try to do It. George Orwell noticed it first. Rulers try to obscure the truth by using obscure language. Assum ing that bankers can write clear, coherent English (and the jury is out on this), they rarely do. Their politicians, bureaucrats, and other agents use phrases like “revenue enhancements” for taxes, “arbi trary deprivation of life” for murder, and “upgraded protective reaction” for bombing the hell out of Vietnamese peasants. Sometimes they deal in oppo sites — the equivalent of Big Brother’s “War is Peace” method. Thus Mr. Reagan called the MX missile “the Peacekeeper” and the Contras “freedom fighters.” The invasion of Panama was “Opera tion Just Cause.” One of the ways, therefore, to avoid tyranny is for a public to insist that leaders’ statements be clear and that words mean what they’re supposed to mean. Mr. Bush, whose fr:^tured syntax may reveal either the lack of clear thought about his own policies or a desire to mislead the public or both, would be in big trouble if this were the case. But this is not possible if the public itself doesn’t know clear communication. Secondly, Dr. Morrison seems to think that nurturing the lan guages and cultures of “minoritarian” peoples empowers them. It is true that, for aesthetic and perhaps psychological rea sons, the languages of subcultures should be preserved. But if such preservation is in their political interest, why, for example, di[d the South African government forcibly “retribalize” its varioilis black ethnic groups, requiring that they be schools in their traditional language and not English? Why does virtually every Af- (Continued on Page 5)
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